


blinders

by storypaint (possibilityleft)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Post-Series, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-26
Updated: 2011-10-26
Packaged: 2017-10-24 23:31:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/269131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/possibilityleft/pseuds/storypaint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sort of romantic comedy starring Toph and Zuko: everyone knew but them.  (What they knew took some figuring out.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	blinders

"So she said she was breaking up with me, and I told her I was going to go ask you what was going on in her girl brain, and she just rolled her eyes at me and left," Zuko finished. His hair was mussed, probably because he'd been running his hands through it in frustration.

Toph finished excavating her nose and said, "I would have rolled my eyes too. You think I'm psychic or something, just because I'm a girl too? Please. That would have saved a lot of grief with Sugar Queen."

Zuko growled in frustration. He flopped down on the chair next to her and she put her feet up in his lap. They certainly weren't clean -- Mai wasn't going to insist on her bathing during visits, not like Katara did -- but he hardly noticed. Toph was Toph. She came with dust.

"I just don't understand her! She says she loves me, but then she says we can't be together. She didn't even look upset!"

"She wasn't that upset when she got arrested, remember? I think it's her face," Toph offered. "Anyway, if she doesn't want to be with you anymore, there's really nothing you can do about it except give her some room. In the case of Lady Sharp there, I'd say enough space to put another country in, but I guess you have to stick around and run this one."

Zuko sighed again. "You know, Sokka would have been sympathetic, and then cooked up a ridiculous plan to get her back," he said.

"Yeah. Aren't you glad I'm not Sokka?" she said, and grinned.

Zuko nodded. Toph was his unofficial top advisor at the moment, since Iroh decided to stay in Ba Sing Se and everyone else was too busy fawning over him because they thought his reign would be as bloody as his father's. For whatever reason, Toph had decided to follow him home after their last visit to the Jasmine Dragon. He pointedly ignored her constant rearranging of the rock garden, and in return, she gave him blunt advice that was a lot more helpful than the words of his real advisors. She was sixteen now, after all, so she could pretty much travel where she wanted, not that she didn't do that before. He wasn't going to send her home, no matter how the Bei Fongs begged.

"Come on," she said. "The other thing you do when you have a breakup is go get drunk."  
She swung her feet off his lap and got to her feet, grabbing his hand and pulling him up whether he wanted it or not. He wasn't sure that he was allowed to get drunk -- what if he changed an important policy or something? -- but he figured Toph could drink him under the table anyway, despite being younger, and as long as he didn't wake up with a terrible headache to find she was prime minister, life wouldn't be so bad.

*

The next morning he woke up feeling like someone had stabbed him with an icepick several times. As it turned out, it was just because Katara had opened the curtains and the sunlight burned his eyes. He moaned a little and she gave him a disapproving look. He wondered drowsily when she'd shown up, and who had let her in. He might have a few more people to let go, after all.

"Well, I suppose you're happy," she said, despite all evidence to the contrary.

"What?" he asked, defensive.

"She's been waiting long enough. Go after her," Katara insisted.

"Toph said I should give Mai some space," he said, confused.

"You are so hopeless!" she answered.

Zuko pulled the covers up over his head and wondered if he could take the day off. Probably not.

*

He made it to the dining room by the late morning, and the kitchen staff were brisk and only slightly judgmental when they brought his breakfast. He was about halfway through when Toph showed up and flopped into a chair across from him. She stole a piece of meat from his plate.

"I feel like a komodo rhino ran over my head," she complained. "Why'd it take so long to get you drunk, Sparky?"

"I was depressed!" he said, and tried to stab her fingers with his chopsticks before she could steal more of his food. Even though the chopsticks were wooden, he missed. This was a common ritual.

"Look, there are plenty of badgermoles in the ground, plenty of seals in the sea, whatever. And Mai is going to Kyoshi, so she'll be out of your hair for a while."

"What?"

Toph took advantage of his horror to steal another part of his meal. She continued, "She's going to visit Ty Lee. Aang and Katara showed up last night, and Aang said he'd take her on Appa so it'd be quicker."

"Katara woke me up," Zuko admitted. After a pause, he asked, "Do you think Mai told them we were breaking up before she told me?"

Toph shrugged. "Probably. Aang told me he was going to take you fishing later for some manly bonding time or something. He doesn't eat meat, right? I guess you're catching seaweed."

"I have a country to run, you know," Zuko tried.

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure this is international cooperation or something." She leaned forward enough to clap him on the shoulder, wearing an evil grin. "I'm going back to bed," she announced, then, and wandered off to do so.

*

Feeding the turtle-ducks was a far cry from fishing, but definitely preferable. Zuko put on a wide-brimmed hat to conceal the fact that he hadn't combed his hair, and that the sun was still giving him a headache. Aang said he looked nice and Zuko found himself oddly touched by the statement.

"Soooooo," Aang said after a while. He threw some more bread. Since Zuko liked to come out here to think about policy, the turtleducks were getting a little fat. And needy. Zuko tossed a piece to one before it could bite Aang's hand for being slow.

"So," Zuko agreed. "Nice of you to drop in without warning."

Aang laughed uncomfortably. "Well, we were in the neighborhood... Anyway, how are _you_ , Zuko?"

"I'm _great_ ," Zuko said sarcastically. Aang was a terrible liar. "Mai broke up with me."

"Well, it's probably for the best," Aang said, his eyes widening as Zuko glared.

"Glad to have your support," Zuko said.

"I'm sure you'll find happiness," Aang rushed to reassure. "It might be... right under your _feet_."

He stared at Zuko like he was trying to tell him something. The turtleduck bit Aang's finger for being inattentive, and Zuko was okay with that.

*

Toph and Zuko met again at dinner. Aang and Katara had begged off with a pair of suspicious excuses, but neither of them had protested much. Apparently while Aang and Zuko had been bonding, Toph and Katara had been doing girly things.

"Probably because Mai refused to answer her door," Toph said, around a mouthful of food. "So instead she wanted to braid my hair, and was all disappointed that I cut it."

"It's more practical that way," Zuko said. Toph nodded.

"What did Twinkletoes want?" she asked.

Zuko sighed. "I have no idea. He said he was sorry about Mai and then kept hinting about something to do with feet. My feet don't stink, do they?"

"I would have dumped you in the pond if they did," she said, and they ate the rest of their meal in a comfortable silence.

*

It wasn't until a week later that Zuko finally figured out what was going on, after Aang and Katara had finally left, with Mai in tow. (He hadn't gone to tell her goodbye, although he'd thought about it. Finally he decided, given his track record with speeches, that it was better to get some work done instead.)

It always took him ten minutes and a good two or three scratches before he could catch Hawky, whom he generally called "Sokka's devil-bird." Sucking at the shallow scratch on his index finger, he unrolled the scroll and attempted to decipher Sokka's hand-writing. The characters had enough variation between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation that reading Sokka's missives were always a bit difficult (not to mention quality of handwriting and Sokka's habit of disappearing from the topic for several paragraphs about his latest inventions, or leaving bad haiku in the margins).

When he finally sorted it out, he went looking for Toph. That mostly involved standing still in the middle of the palace and listening for shouting or rock movement. It sounded as if she was rearranging his garden again.

He supposed he shouldn't be surprised that a girl who made rock angels would also make snowmen -- well, rockmen -- out of the same substance. It was honestly kind of interesting to see the way that she pictured people in her head. He wasn't entirely sure how her vibration sight worked, but apparently it was quite well. He wasn't sure how he felt about having a statue of himself in his own garden, but at least it was a decent one. Mostly.

"What do you think, Sparky?" she asked, not turning from her work.

"You know I don't have a ridiculous beard like that, don't you?" he asked, to be sure.

"Yeah, it's Sokka's Wang Fire beard. I stole it the last time he tried to analyze me," she said. "It just seemed to finish the piece."

Zuko considered arguing, but she did have a point. (And if he asked nicely, she'd probably take it back down again when she was done goofing off.)

"Speaking of Sokka, he seems to think you're in love with me," he said, remembering the contents of the note. He held it up for emphasis, but then realized the pointless nature of the act and put his arm down.

Toph didn't look at him. Instead she adjusted the shape of the statue's knee with one hand. "I was wondering when you'd notice, Sparky," she said, her tone light. "Actually, I never expected you would. Most people don't see as well as I do."

"Why didn't you say anything?" he asked.

She shrugged. "You were dating Mai. I didn't want to get stabbed. Plus, it's not like I need a boyfriend to be happy. I'm happy now."

Zuko blinked. "So am I," he realized. It wasn't that he had disliked being with Mai, because he really did care for her, but there was a weight lifted from his shoulders now, and he guessed it was called Romantic Expectations.

Toph turned around and hopped up on the base of the statue. She sat down between its feet. The platform was just the right height that her feet didn't dangle. Zuko sat down awkwardly on one of his statue feet.

"That's all we need then, right?" she said. She reached out and grabbed his hand, and squeezed it.

"My statue could really use less beard," he said. Toph grinned.

"Done and done," she said, making a gesture. Zuko watched as the statue head hit the ground, leaving a sizable dent. Not what he had in mind, but by morning this would probably be a statue of Appa instead, or something just as strange.

He was okay with that, so when she put her arm around his waist, he just scooted a little closer.

**Author's Note:**

> For fic_promptly: Avatar: the Last Airbender, Toph/Zuko, everybody knew but us.


End file.
